Ten people are homeless after a fire broke out on Yates Avenue on Oct. 14, 2017.

Ten people are homeless after a fire broke out on Yates Avenue on Oct. 14, 2017.

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Ten people are homeless after a fire broke out on Yates Avenue on Oct. 14, 2017.

Ten people are homeless after a fire broke out on Yates Avenue on Oct. 14, 2017.

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Men saluted for rescue of child from burning Albany home

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ALBANY - Joe Keefe and Rick Stevens were in Casey Finn’s on Saturday night after watching the Yankees game when Stevens got a call from an aunt who works as an emergency dispatcher.

There was a fire down the street, could they help?

Stevens ran out of the bar and saw flames shooting out of the first-floor windows of 497 Yates Ave. He ran back to the bar and got Keefe.

Keefe headed for the back of the house and discovered a family of three trapped on a second-floor porch. There were no stairs and the flames were starting to rise.

He convinced the parents to drop their 4-year-old son into his arms while Stevens warned the next-door neighbors of the danger.

“He was pretty shaken up, holding on pretty tight,” Keefe said.

Keefe, 27, and Stevens, 35, along with members of the Albany Fire Department, were recognized for their efforts Wednesday at a news conference at the department’s headquarters.

“I was just doing what I hope someone would do for my family,” said Keefe, who has a two-year-old child.

When fire crews arrived, they used a 28-foot extension ladder to rescue the parents.

No one was hurt in the fire, which began in a first-floor bedroom closet. The fire was started by an electrical malfunction, Fire Chief Warren Abriel said. The fire displaced an additional six people, who were home at the time of the fire but got out safely.

Crews were on the scene within minutes and quickly contained the fire damage to the first floor. The bedroom and kitchen were heavily damaged but the building is salvageable, Abriel said.

The department’s efforts were an example of a team coming together and deserved recognition, Abriel said.

“There weren’t any special reports that said I did this and I rescued this person but there was something special and I thought it was a team effort that sometimes comes together and gels,” he said.